Edith Gibbon, Daughter of James and Mary

Edith is the one less talked about. I remember Dad talking about Aunty Lil and Uncle Jim, oh and Aunty Beat who was the mother of Mai Jones, but Edith was never talked about.

I decided to make a concerted effort to find more about her. I looked on the 1911 census and found James and Mary Gibbon with Lily but no -one else. Edith was at home with her parents in 1901 so I looked for a marriage and found one!
On the 18th June 1903 Edith married Thomas Cooper at St Matthew's Church Maindee. Her address is given as 22 Llanwern St, (this is the address for James and Mary on the 1901 census) Thomas Cooper's address is 1 Rose Street.
This is very exciting because we live just around the corner from Rose street!

I then looked for Edith Cooper on the 1911 census and found her and Thomas living at Station House, Abercarn with their daughter Doris Mary Frances Cooper age 8.

I then went back to the indexes and looked for a birth record for Doris and got the bonus of an image of the page of the Baptisms register for St Matthew's Church Maindee where she was baptised on 6 May 1903. I then searched for a marriage for Doris and found one in the Gloucestershire, Bristol Marriage Index 1644-1939. She was married to Reginald Munro at St Nathanael, Redland Bristol on 19 September 1931. I have not yet found any children or a definite death date for Doris. Munro is a surprisingly common name.

The hunt continues.

The Reunion - March 2015, Photo heavy

 For all the cousins who couldn't be at the reunion. These are a few of the quieter moments.

Most of the time we couldn't hear ourselves think let alone hear what anyone was saying. Cousin Andrew looks like he is putting a message in that water bottle - perhaps he was...




 I look like I am giving Cousin Colin - better known in my blog as Admiral Lord Onassis Bluefunnel - a bit of a telling off. I think I was just asking if he had seen one of his nephews yet. Sitting facing him is John Stewart, the son of our dear departed Cousin Jacky. Colin and Jacky are the children of Mary Gibbon who was the daughter of Mary Clode, second wife of Frederic Gibbon. Still with me? Good

 Alma Cassandra Serenity Rogers made her debut with the family age three weeks. I'll just say now how proud I am of her Momma for bringing her and facing what was quite an overwhelming crowd. They stayed long enough for everyone to coo a little over such a sweet little cutie but the increasing noise was disturbing her and Momma was worrying. We were all delighted to meeti her and look forward to her seeing us properly in the future. She is the daughter of Hannah Smith who is the Daughter of Mark Smith who is the son of ME, Ann Macey, who is the daughter of Bernard Gibbon who is the sone of Frederic Gibbon and his first wife Margaret Annie Guilfoyle.

 Anwyn Elizabeth Geran has nearly the same lineage as Alma but Anwyn's Momma is Kerry Ann Smith, Hannah's sister. Winnie, as she likes to be known had a lovely time meeting all her cousins and doing some colouring. She was really very good, and very polite and well mannered. This is always a good thing as far as I am concerned.

 Rory Geran is Daddy to Anwyn and to Bleddyn. He is a good and caring Daddy and he looks after my Granddaughter very well. This is a good thing because I would have to "tell him off!" if he didn't

Richard Williams is the son of Jacky Carlson. I think he thought it was just a kid taking the pictures so it didn't matter. He didn't know that even though she is just ten years old Miss Emily Roberts was the official photographer - and she did really well considering that some of the adults didn't take it seriously - next time eh Richard?

Emily is the daughter of Andrea who is the Daughter of Ann Macey you know the rest of that line eh?

Martyn Jeffry Smith drove down from university in Liverpool specially to be at the reunion. He got to see all the cousins he hasn't met before and to look at the charts and trees - harder than exams is what he muttered to his Momma.
Martyn is the son of Michael Smith, who is the son of Ann Macey

Colin Macey came because he is the driver and we needed someone to help carry all the folders and scrap albums - at least that's what he said. He enjoyed sitting and talking to the familoy he married into although he had no idea how big that was because I told him I am an only child. This is true, I just come from a big family

 Some of the younger generation had never met their cousins. Ava Holloway is one of those. Her Momma is Sophie who is the daughter of Amanda, who is the daughter of Bernard Baggott, who is the son of Muriel Baggott, who is the daughter of Frederic Gibbon and Margaret Annie.

Sometimes a wee boy needs a moment of contemplation - or perhaps he was just waiting for the stars to stop circling his head. Bleddyn spent his afternoon crawling under the tables then trying to standup and banging his head on the metal framework. This made him see stars and deafened us because he screamed for his Momma. Once he had done this twice he realised he had his Momma's undivided attention. He probably had a real headache when he got home. He is brother to Anwyn

Kelly Alicia Smith is sister to Martyn. She rearranged her shifts in work to make sure she could be at the reunion. We all like this dedication to family.

 Rhiannon and Danielle Williams are the daughters of John Stewart - see paragraph two for the lineage. With them in this picture is Hayley - I believe it is Hayley who is the partner of Kristian who is the brother of Rhiannon and Danielle.

Rebecca Chambers is the daughter of Kathryn Chambers who is the Daughter of cousin Jacky. This makes Kathryn the sister of John Stewart and Richard. There are small people in this picture but I am a little muddled with their names. They are all on the family tree and if anyone wants a copy of the details then just email me

MAndy is the wife of John Stewart and I think that the pretty young lady sitting next to her is Emily, one of Mandy's grandchildren

 The little gentleman on the right of this picture is Zac, I know this because he told me. He is a grandson of John Stewart so is descended from Frederic Gibbon and his second wife Mary Clode

 Even though cousin Katherine Susan Powell couldn't join us because she had tonsilitis we still had a cake to celebrate her birthday. We send get well soon messages to Katherine

 Bernard Baggott showed us that even great grandfather's still have the knack of soothing babies to sleep. He is holding one of his great grandsons. Bernard is the son of Muriel Baggott as I said above.

Here Admiral Lord Bluefunnel photo-bombs Pat White, daughter of Muriel Baggott and Annette Jeffrey Smith, mother of Martyn and Kelly.The lovely hair in the foreground belongs to Charley Baggott, granddaughter of Bernard.

There were 50 people in that room and we didn't manage to get clear pictures of them all. Next time we will set up a group photograph and then try and get everyone looking at the camera at the same time. It was a good day even if the Skype didn't wotk. We are now exploring the intricacies of Skype software so that next time ... next time it will be HUGE, you'll see.

Chindits and Dennis GIBBON

This is a short one today. I was pointed in the direction of a website about the Chindits - a special forces group in WW2 that fought the Japanese in Burma - and I went to have a look because Dennis GIBBON was a Chindit and fought there in the jungle for a couple of years. He rarely talked about it.
There are some film clips on the site so I had to look, just to see if he was on one of them.
He is.

http://www.chindits.info/FilmClips/Index.html

Look at the one where General Orde Wingate is inspecting the men. You get a shot from alongside Wingate then a shot of Wingate full face. Then the shot goes back to being alongside him and just for a second you can see the GIBBON nose next to Wingate's face.

I send the link to cousin Russell, eldest son of Dennis, and he confirms that even though it is only one second of film it is definitely Dennis. Russell is pleased because he was only a teenager when Dennis died so seeing him on film is a bonus.

Weekend at the seaside

We spent the bank holiday with the two youngest grandchildren, and their parents of course

They had the greatest fun with their fishing nets in the rock pools while we sat in the sun and talked and enjoyed the lovely weather and the beach. Then they walked back to the caravan and we strolled back to the car and drove there to find the boys washing the sand off their feet while watching CeeBeebies .
A smashing weekend.

Uncle Steve and Aunty Doreen

I have just received this picture from Seth DeGeer, grandson of Uncle Steve and Aunty Doreen.

Isn't that wonderful? Now you can see just how beautiful Aunty Doreen was. That beauty was still so evident even in old age and she maintained her elegance too.

Aunty Doreen and Aunty Chris

Most of you know through my emails that Aunty Doreen passed away at the end of April. Sandy (daughter of Stephen Henry and Doreen) and Bob were able to be with Stephen (son of Stephen and Doreen) and Annette and with her so that was a little comfort to them.

I searched my pictures file but I don't have a single picture of Aunty Doreen to share with you. I wonder if Sandy or Steve have a picture of their wedding?

We didn't see Aunty Doreen much when I was small. We visited them in various houses around Cardiff. There was one rather wonderful place that I remember as a country cottage. Steve was just a little boy then and Sandy and I - and I think cousin Bernard or perhaps it was Yvonne and Jacky - anyway we went across the field to the stream where we picked some watercress. We all thought it would be rather wonderful to have it for tea and carried it back triumphantly.

The leaves were washed thoroughly and when we all sat down for tea I noticed that everyone tried the watercress except me and Aunty Doreen. My Mum asked me why I wasn't eating it and I replied "Sheep walked in that water." everyone except Aunty laughed and carried on munching. Aunty caught my eye and gave a little tiny nod of her head as though she too knew about the sheep and their dirty feet.

Then came the news from Cousin Pete in Canada that Aunty Chris had died on 11th May and with her passing we, that's all the grandchildren of Frederic GIBBON became the older generation.

sometime in the 1950s

I have several memories of Chris, mostly they are memories of Chris and Val and Kath because it seemed that until Chris left to work in Africa the three of them came as a package.
I know this isn't true but it did seem that way. to a small person. Chris worked in the offices of an architectural firm and one of the reasons she went to Africa was because she had fallen in love with her boss. It's amazing what you can overhear when you are lying quietly on the hearthrug "reading".

I don't know details but I do know she came to my mother for advice and my mother told her to find a new job because he was married and never going to leave his wife and family or risk losing his reputation, while at the same time not giving a fig for Chris's reputation.

Cornwall 1952/3

 My mother was usually right. As a result of this advice Chris got a job in the Crown Services and went to Nyasaland, as it was then. From there she went to Borneo and places east and eventually she found a job in the Yukon in Canada.

She was always full of fun when she was young, although she could be the responsible big sister to the other two.

I don't have any up to date pictures of Chris so if anyone does please could I have a copy for the blog and for our website. That's the website we have had for a year and not done anything with yet.

Chris, Val and Kath with Ma standing behind them

Mai Jones and the Royal College of Music

You might remember that I said I would begin the research into the life of our famous relative, Mai Jones. We all know, through the Welsh Dictionary of Biographies that she was Born in 1899, went to school in Newport and played the organ at the Methodist Church on Stow Hill. She gained a scholarship to the College of Music in Cardiff and, it is said, she then went to the Royal College of Music in London.

I was idly surfing this here intarwebby and put the RCM into the search engine. I looked at the website and there was a little thing that said "contact us". So I did. I Explained that I was researching my family tree and that one of my father's cousins had been a student at RCM. I gave the probable dates, her name and her year of birth. Several days later I received an email telling me that the very kind lady had searched the registers from the opening of the RCM until today and there was no entry for Glady May Jones or May Jones.
There is a list of External students who just take the exams but don't actually attend the college. On this list there is a Gladys M. Jones in July 1941. It says she gained an ARCM Diploma in Piano Performing.
The very kind lady suggested that I try the Royal Academy of Music as the two places are very often confused. I thanked her.
I had already tried the Royal Academy of Music a couple of years ago and she is not on their registers as a student or anything else there.

My father once remarked that we would probably discover that she had gone to the RCM to visit once and ever after she allowed people to believe she had studied there when all she actually said was "I went to the Royal College of Music in London". A fellow researcher once told me that his mother used to travel on the same train to London as Mai, when they were "going back to college" I have added the emails to the information on the family tree. I wonder if anyone has a picture of her. I only have a couple of poor photocopies from the BBC archives.

Mai or May, is the daughter of Thomas JONES, station master at Pontypool Road Station, and Beatrice May GIBBON daughter of James GIBBON and Mary FRANCIS. I still haven't narrowed down which is the correct birth. I have bought a couple of certificates but they were the wrong ones I will have to go to the register office and ask them to search.  OH and here's a spooky thing. Cousin Andy GIBBON and his lovely wife Jayne spotted a delightful house in New Inn and decided to buy it because it was so quirky and old. They told Andy's Dad, Fred GIBBON and he said "The Station Master's house? that's where Uncle Tom and Aunty Beat lived - it's where Mai Jones lived for years"
So now Andy and Jayne live in Uncle Tom's house. Isn't that weird?